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by Leni



Series: Cora's Daughter [9]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Background Cora, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 19:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8546479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: It still made her giddy, to know that she ranked higher in importance than his spells and his potions...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Lucy's diamond prompt: Belle observes that Rumple is an 'open-eyed' kisser (you'll notice it in a lot of the Rumbelle kisses and some of Bobby's films. God, I'm a weirdo). What could be considered off-putting from other men, Belle, however, thinks it's adorable. She asks him if he's aware that he does it.

Belle thought that leaving her book or her sewing aside to get to her feet, rush to the man at her door, and put her arms around him to welcome him back was an habit that had developed soon after Rumpelstiltskin started making a point of coming to her chambers first after his arrival.

It still made her giddy, to know that she ranked higher in importance than his spells and his potions, and he such a powerful wizard who devoted so much of his time to his trade!

Rumpelstiltskin laughed at her show of fondness, but she knew the difference between true delight and malice. He wouldn’t allow the embrace and then berate her for revealing a weakness. Or, worse, return it just to whisper in her ear what a disappointment she was.

“Hello, little one,” he said, voice high with pleasure. Whatever his errand, it had gone well, and her reception was only improving his mood. “Missed me?”

It wasn’t a trick question, so Belle nodded freely.

He gave another laugh, catching her jaw and pulling her into a kiss. It wasn’t tender, as he could be when the mood took him. Instead he pressed his mouth to hers, dragging his lips over her softer ones, and his tongue drove between her lips, inviting her to open and licking at her front teeth when she did. He grunted at her lack of resistance, clutching her just a little tighter, as if she would think of refusing him.

They had a deal. Her bed for his protection, and Rumpelstiltskin had never given her reason to back down from it.

Instead her hands moved to cradle his face, a silent acceptance, and she stroked her way to his temples, massaging the spot before letting her fingers slide through his hair. His grip eased around her, one hand sweeping down the fabric to her hip, the other rising to cup her breast.

She made a noise, too, sucking in his tongue eagerly.

Ten days, since the last time she’d seen Rumpelstiltskin. It was his longest absence since she’d made clear she didn’t resent his visits and rather enjoyed his company.

She arched into him, muttering his name, and only got a few syllables out before he was nibbling on her lower lip. The tip of a claw grazed at the edge of her neckline, and Belle was torn between saving her pretty dress or letting him tear at the fabric. In the end she chose to make a fist at the back of his head, thrilling in the feel of his curls tightening around her fingers like little rings. She didn’t pull on his hair, but he acknowledged the warning with a chuckle and a pass of his hand down her front to her belly.

“It is a beautiful dress,” he commented, stroking the soft cloth. His voice was all innocence, as if it had never crossed his mind to ruin it.

Belle smiled. Having opened her eyes, she glanced down as his oddly colored hand spanned across her abdomen. His claws could have ripped into her, but she made no movement to tear herself away. Instead she relaxed her own grasp on him, holding onto his nape with one hand while the other traveled over his face, a line across his forehead and then, more playfully, brushing over his eyebrows.

She leaned in to kiss him, a softer touch now, and wasn’t surprised when the skin under her fingertips didn’t shift to signal that he’d closed his eyes too. It was funny, that it had taken her so long to notice. Her giggle was a quiet breath, but Rumpelstiltskin still caught it.

“What is it, dearie?”

Belle’s first thought was to shake her head and dismiss the silly moment. But keeping her thoughts to herself only bred distrust in him. Something like this would leave him brooding about a hundred reasons she could be laughing at him. “Nothing serious,” she told him, still smiling to show her sincerity. Then she pulled himself to her tiptoes to kiss the corner of one eye and then the other. “It’s just that you always kiss me with your eyes open.” Then she added a teasing smile. “Afraid I’ll decide to slip a knife between your ribs if you’re not looking?”

That made him snort a laugh. “You’re smarter than that.”

Belle nodded, always warmed by the new compliment. “Mother says—”

She couldn’t have doused Rumpelstiltskin’s good humor more successfully if she _had_ stabbed him.

He stiffened, pulling her harshly at arms’ length. His eyes blazed with anger and each word was a warning growl: “You and she compare….”

Belle’s eyes widened in horror at the suggestion. “Of course not! She just mentioned how you’re always alert, and got me thinking— Let me go!” His hands released her before she’d even begun to struggle. It left her unbalanced for a second, but she recovered her footing without further embarrassment. Then she stared at him, disappointed that another misunderstanding had ruined their easy reunion. “I would never… Not with her!”

“But the two of you have talked.”

“She writes me now,” Belle explained when Rumpelstiltskin’s expression darkened, though she wasn’t sure whether he hated more the idea of her abandoning the castle’s protection to visit with her mother, or that his former lover should come to his home when he wasn’t there. “Our doves make it here, you know. I heard that was how my father first called for you.”

“With an offer of gold, yes.” He sniffed, still affronted by the insult.

Belle had always understood that the real lure had been her mother’s presence in Avonlea. She might have made a personal playground out of her husband’s lands, but every citizen owed her now. It had been her, the Dark One had come to see. The ogres had been only a convenient excuse.

Just like her people’s plight had provided Belle with a perfect exit.

Perhaps she was more like her mother than she liked to admit.

“Well, now you know. Mother started sending letters last week. Tells me she misses my company.”

Their chuckles were simultaneous.

“Belle, darling,” he said anyway.

Belle shrugged one shoulder. “Oh, I’m aware that she’s lying, Rumple. It’s like she thinks I left behind my memory along with my trunks when I came with you.”

The mood for intimacy broken, Rumpelstiltskin walked to the chair she’d vacated at his entrance. He half-turned, extending his hand toward her in silent entreat, and when she took it, he sat down and tugged softly for her to sit across his knees.

Belle could have demurred, but saw no reason to deny him. She had missed this when he was gone; the conversation, his animated gestures as he told her a story… The closeness to another human being. With him she had finally learned to relax as she enjoyed someone’s company, secure in the knowledge that no one would be hurt for earning her affection.

The things her mother had done, when she’d caught Belle trying to make friends. How she’d _smiled_ and told her it was for the best.

Uneasy at the dark memories, Belle pressed against Rumpelstiltskin, laying her head on his shoulders. “She would do the same when I was little,” she told him, playing with the buttons of his vest. Part of her didn’t want to share this, just wanted to hide the memories of a little girl who’d still believed her mother could love her. But Cora was poking into their lives, and she needed Rumpelstiltskin to understand why she’d always choose his side over her mother’s. “She’d come to my rooms with gifts, say we were going for a picnic, invite me along on a trip. Later I worked out that she timed those visits with the days my father would have been free to see me, back when he still would have tried to know me. She would tell him that I was busy-”

“-and he’d go,” Rumpelstiltskin completed the thought.

“My father… I’ve heard he is a good man. But not terribly interested in change. My mother just made sure his routine was not upset by a daughter.”

“How convenient.” That was a sneer. Belle glanced at him, surprised at the bitterness of his tone, but Rumpelstiltskin’s expression had smoothed over already. “Why do you read her letters, sweetheart? Why not ask me to keep your father’s carriers away from our windows?”

“Because I can deal with them on my own,” she told him. “Poison one or two, and my father would not allow that they be sent here anymore.”

He huffed in surprise, but made no comment on her pragmatism. “Then why?”

Because her mother wouldn’t seek her for the sake of their relationship. There had to be another reason. Whatever it was, however unlikely it was that the Dark One’s former student would get any advantage over him, they wouldn’t miss it because Belle was too afraid of some paper and ink.

But to tell Rumpelstiltskin that was to admit that there was a chance Cora would get past his defenses. He did not react well to casting doubt on his power.

“I am lonely, Rumple,” she told him instead. It… wasn’t a lie, at least. “And if there’s no warmth between my mother and I, at least there’s the challenge of answering her queries without giving any important information.”

His gaze sharpened. “She asks questions?”

“Oh no. She worries.” She lifted her head, twisting her lips into a facsimile of a smile. “Poor Mama. Has her only child eaten plenty? Does her dear daughter feel safe in her new home? Do I know how you plot against my saintly mother, all for the sake of an old misunderstanding?”

Rumpelstiltskin scowled at that, but had to say nothing. Belle was already laughing at Cora’s attempt to twist the truth.

“And you tell her…?”

A wicked light came to her blue eyes. “I tell her I’m too distracted to pay attention to your comings and goings. That I barely have to leave my rooms, and that you give me no reason to want for anything more.” She placed a hand against his chest, abandoning the gold buttons to play with the vee of his half-open shirt. His gaze followed her motions, approving both of her touch and her handling of Cora. Lies would never come easily to her, but truth was a slippery creature. “I tell her I’m _satisfied_.”

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. “And did you add that most of your… satisfaction… derives from the library adjacent to your bedroom?”

“Not most! Maybe a quarter?” Belle giggled, giving him a quick kiss when he grinned. “And no, I don’t. Mother never approved of my reading. Why would I upset her with such news?”

“Why indeed.” He threaded an arm around her waist, content to let her explore the skin of his throat as they talked. “Do you… If you’re so lonely, you’d resort to writing to a conniving witch… maybe you’d like a companion?”

Belle’s touch stilled. “Another prisoner?”

Rumpelstiltskin heard the distaste in her voice, and was quick to shake his head. He already knew that having people lingering in the dungeons reminded her too much of her childhood home. “On the contrary,” he assured her, “I’m thinking of taking on a guest. Temporarily, you see. A few weeks, a month at most.”

“What kind of guest?”

He sighed, complete with a little roll of his eyes. “The kind that is absolutely helpless and has no chance to escape your mother’s anger.”

Belle considered the information for a moment. “Would this guest happen to be a princess of locks black as coal, lips red as fresh blood, and skin white as snow?”

He stared at her in surprise. “You don’t seem misinformed at all, my dear.”

“Mother was kind enough to keep me appraised of her little war. It seems there was little use for that extra army, after you took care of the ogres.”

“She has ruined Leopold’s kingdom. Why not invade it as well?”

Belle blinked. Her whole life she had been aware that Avonlea’s gold allowed them first choice in the trade across the land. Later she had understood that it meant several other kingdoms - and perhaps one in particular - struggled to keep up. “It’s personal? She knows the king?”

“Oh yes, she does; and yes, it’s personal.” Rumpelstiltskin put a hand at her cheek, caressing her with care that his nails wouldn’t scratch her skin. “Whatever she’s told you, your mother made her worst enemy long before she met me.”

But Rumpelstiltskin had taught her magic. How had a miller’s daughter met a king? “What happened?”

“What happens to poor girls who dream of becoming princesses?”

The same thing that happened to little princesses who dreamed of running away from their castle. “They wake up with nothing.”

He nodded, then lifted a shoulder as if it were of no importance. For him, it probably was not. “And so your mother hates Snow’s parents, for leaving her back in the mud.”

Belle couldn’t even picture her proud mother with as much as a stain on her expensive clothes.

“Why would you help their daughter?”

Rumpelstiltskin’s fingers stilled. “There are reasons.”

“She’s made a deal for your protection too?”

Rumpelstiltskin glanced at her, a surprised look on his face, but thankfully made no mention of the note of jealousy in her voice. “Not yet,” he said carefully, drawing a line down to her jaw and stroking the soft skin there, “and the terms would be quite different, from what you and I have come to agree.”

Belle knew it had been silly, to worry at all. Rumpelstiltskin was not led by his lusts, and neither was he one to make her live in doubt of her importance. He liked her. He was honest about that. She didn’t need to fear that he was seeking a replacement.

But she still was curious enough to ask, “So she’s not the fairest of all?”

“Fair enough, I suppose. And pure of heart and mind too.” He wrinkled his nose to show his dislike of the combination. “Not interesting like a certain other princess I know,” he told her, pinching her cheek, “nor half as smart as you, if she’s just coming to realize that her precious fairy godmother won’t lift a finger to help her.”

Belle made a face. “Fairies are useless.”

Rumpelstiltskin tilted his head, a question at the tip of his tongue, but only a moment of thought was needed to unravel her reaction. “Wished upon a blue star, didn’t you? Tsk.”

“Going away with the Dark One wasn’t my first choice,” she admitted easily, but snuggled up to him as she said the words. “But you’re not what I thought you were, and I’m glad.”

Their eyes met, and his gaze was softer than she was used to. Or so she thought for that one second before he grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss.

Their lips met in a dance that was familiar by now, his hands flew to her waist, his grip firm and ready to lift her up and carry her to the bed that awaited the two of them. But then he noticed that she’d kept her eyes open this time, and he faltered in sudden doubt.

The kiss broke. Left him staring at her. “Does that displease you?” he asked at last, when she just looked confused. “That I… look?”

Belle shook her head. “No. Of course not.” Then she gave a little smile and reached for him again. “I think it’s adorable.”

She patted his shoulders when she felt him straighten in objection, then moved quickly to brush his hair behind his ears before he could protest that the Dark One was never adorable.

That would be the truth outside his castle, where the world saw only the unbending deal maker and the creator of spells so foul only the most desperate would think to use them. But here, in her presence, he had no reason to speak harshly or to fulfill any threats. Her months in the Dark Castle had been the quietest Belle had ever known; the only upset the thief who’d spent too short a time in the dungeons, compared to the punishment her parents would have dealt if he’d been found snooping in her old home.

Rumpelstiltskin might shout and bluster, but he only turned dangerous if someone had acted against him first. That was important, Belle had decided. Her whole life she had lived among servants who were terrified of saying the wrong word, or doing anything outside their duties, never sure what could cause offense.

Rumpelstiltskin was clear in his intentions, and never lied or tried to soften her just to make her admit a weakness. He was… honest, for all he could twist words on themselves. And despite his power and his reputation, Rumpelstiltskin wasn’t cruel. In fact, lately she had found herself wondering whether this was how a kind man would act. Had she really needed to come to the source of nightmares and tears across the realm, to discover true kindness?

She had to kiss him again, a brief sign of affection before she came to her feet and drew him to stand before her. There they stood for a long moment, with only their fingers threaded together, and then she smiled.

Gave a little tug.

And Rumpelstiltskin, the dreaded Dark One, waited until this sign before he let her lead him to her bed.

 

The End  
31/10/16

**Author's Note:**

> *points at comment box*
> 
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